Textile Design Class: Black and White

One of the things I decided to do to keep myself busy this fall is take a class. I chose an online textile design class and so far it's been really good. Our first set of assignments dealt with creating black and white designs. First we had to come up with a concept page. This was basically a page of images that inspired our design process. We were also allowed to make a Pinterest board. So, of course, being me, I did both.
Pinterest board

my concept page

As you can see, my main inspiration was wrought iron. I liked how this combined both a delicate and graphic look often achieved in black and white designs. I also used nature inspired images, and lace. From this concept page, we had to come up with at least 5 motifs. For some reason in my head, I thought these had to be square, so this is what I came up with.

my motifs

Of course, I had to edit these when it came to designing the prints. There is only so much you can do with squares. We had to submit as the final project five different layouts: a basic set design ( think tiles) a half drop design ( tiles that are offset instead of perfectly lined up)  a tossed design (basically exactly what it sounds like, you, "toss" your motifs somewhat randomly on the page), a border with a field ( design that has a border) and a stripe layout.

basic set design

half drop design

tossed non-directional design

border with a field design

stripe layout

I was actually pretty pleased with the result. Designing patterns is so much fun! I'm also learning a lot about Photoshop that will come in handy for my own work.

I definitely would recommend taking a textile design class. I find taking classes outside my field really inspires my work within my own field, and helps get the creative juices flowing. You come up with more ideas just because you are learning to think differently!

I've been working slowly but surely on calendar 2014 (updates and calendars following soon!), and some other commissioned projects that I can't post now, but will as soon as they are in the hands of the rightful owner. I'm also trying to start participating in Illustration Friday again, so be on the lookout for those posts too!